When comparing Raspberry Pi vs Amazon Fire TV, the Slant community recommends Raspberry Pi for most people. In the question“What are the best media centers?” Raspberry Pi is ranked 1st while Amazon Fire TV is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Raspberry Pi is:
You can use it for surfing the web, play retro games, and host your own.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Not just a Media Center
You can use it for surfing the web, play retro games, and host your own.
Pro Customizable
A lot of Media Center OS to choose.
Pro Voice search
There is a dedicated voice search button on the remote so you can quickly bring up the voice search prompt from any app that works fast and accurately.
Pro Has support for tons of media service integrations
The Fire TV has support of the following of services: Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, ESPN, Pandora, Showtime, MLB, iHeart Radio, Vevo, Vimeo, Crackle, Bloomberg, Twitch, NBA, Amazon Music, Plex, YouTube, Tune In, Flixster, Quello, AOL on, WWE, HuffPost Live, Frequency, Red Bull TV, and Smithsonian Channel.
Pro Has a simplified kids mode
There is a mode called "freetime" that lets you whitelist specific apps and set watch time limits for kids, or for a simplified interface with only certain apps.
Pro Most powerful set top box
Even though it's only $99, it's far more powerful than its competitors, with a quad core processor and 2GB of ram, and that power really shows in the fluidity of the UI.
Pro Bluetooth Remote
The Fire TV remote doesn't require line of sight, and has a microphone for voice search, thanks to bluetooth support.
Cons
Con Lack of 4K support
The max video output is 1080p.
Edit: Raspberry Pi 4 now supports dual 4K displays. More at : https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/
Con Lots of Amazon advertisement
The Fire TV prefers Amazon services, and is tailored to purchasing shows and movies through Amazon. The voice search does not clearly expose if it's already available on a non amazon service.
Con Inconsistent UI between apps
Each app has a unique UI making it harder to jump between each app, and requires you to learn a slightly different UI for every app.